A fire that destroyed more than half of a popular tourist attraction in Co Donegal appears to have been caused by an outdoor air compressor.

Pat Doherty, who built up the Doagh Famine Village in Inishowen with his sister Majella over 30 years, said forensic investigators identified “a small [air] compressor” behind one of the displays as the fire’s source.

“The compressor, it pumped air to make one of the displays move. That machine just, there was either a loose wire or she just overheated, and with all the dry grass it took off and the fire spread quickly,” he said. A strong sea breeze accelerated the blaze, he added.

“We seen just a small fire. There was a motorbike group in from Cavan and they evacuated everybody. They tried to put it out but it was just too fast.”

Four units of Donegal Fire Service spent several hours bringing the fire, which had broken out at about 3.20pm on Saturday, under control.

Mr Doherty said there had been about 50 visitors at the attraction at the time. No one was injured.

He was still “in shock” standing amid such destruction on Monday. It was “like a bomb has gone off”, added his sister.

Pat Doherty of the Doagh Famine Village shows the damage inflicted by a fire over the weekend on the family owned museum in Co Donegal. Video: Joe Dunne (Joe Dunne)

Asked what had been destroyed he said: “We had constructed a replica Orange Hall, a republican safe house; we had a museum to do with the Travelling community and then we had all our local history there too, everything to do with the Famine.

“Orange lodges donated flags and items towards the Orange Hall and that’s all gone. That was a good display, a really good display.”

He recalled getting a call during the Troubles from members of an Orange Lodge who wanted to donate flags.

“I went to the Border and this car comes up with massive flags rolled up. Those guys were afraid to come over the Border but they wanted to donate them to the hall. So things like that are sad. Aye, you do feel you let them down. They looked after their stuff and donated it.”

The Doagh Famine Village’s insurance would not cover fire damage, said Ms Doherty. “We have insurance but it doesn’t cover thatch so we are not insured for the fire. There were so many smaller thatch houses down the back. It doesn’t cover it. There were loads of antiques and insurance doesn’t cover that either.”

Firefighters were able to hold the blaze back from about half the village including the original cottages in which one of the Dohertys lived until the 1980s.

They hope to reopen but are unable to say when.

“We can maybe reopen part of it,” said Mr Doherty. “We have another big building across the road maybe we can divert to that. We’ll see what happens.

“We worked at this seven days a week, me and the sister here, every week. It took over our life – maybe too much, but we love it. It is a shock. It is traumatic.”

“There was stuff here that never will be replaced,” said Ms Doherty, “that took years to build up. It’s desperate. This was our baby. We worked here all the time. We just enjoyed meeting the people, being here. You’d forget to go home some days. There were people coming to us for years, lovely people. So it’s not just this place, it’s the loss of all that.”

A Gofundme page has been set up with a target of €100,000 to help the Doagh Famine Village rebuild.

A Garda spokesman confirmed: “A technical examination of the scene has been completed” but would not give details of findings.